Teething rail



April 28, 1953 A. G. ,FELDMAN TEETHINGRAIL Filed April 15, 1950 I mmvron Qfiraficzm GiJZ/amazz az y Patented Apr. 28, 1953 (:2 J;

UNITED STATES PATENT -OFFICE TEETIEHNG BAIL r v p I Abraham G. Feldmari, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Storkline Furniture Corporation, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application, April 15, 1950, Serial No. 156,070 7 1 g My inventionrelates to teething rails.

In the parlance of the infants furniture trade, a teething rail is that upper, usually horizontal, bar or edge portion of a side 'or end wall of a crib or play pen or the like against which a teething infant naturally and instinctively massages its gums and tries out its new teeth both before and after their emergence from the gums.

Objects of my invention are to provide those teething rail improvementsherein disclosed and claimed.

A salient feature of a teething rail of my present invention is a sheath, of tough and deformable and resilient material, that is impervious to moisture and externally smooth and free from surface pores and easy to maintain scrupulously clean and sanitary, thatis non-splinterable, that is non-breakable in the service it renders, that has no surface coating to be scraped away or scratched by infant teeth, and which clings with remarkable tenacity to the rail part with which it is associated.

Other salient features of a teething rail of my invention are the manners in which the sheath and its associated rail part are inter-engaged and cooperate to retain the former upon the latter snugly and securely.

Important practical advantages of the teething rail of my present invention are that the sheath may be formed of a suitable moldable plastic by an extruding operation, that the sheath may be pressed laterally upon-as distinguished from being slipped endwise uponits associated rail part, that glue, cement, screws or nails are not essential to the retention of the sheath upon its associated rail part, and that the sheath may be and preferably is a decorative trim part of the crib or play pen or other comparable article of infants furniture in which the teething rail is incorporated.

The aforementioned and other objects, features and advantages of the teething rail of my invention will more fully and in detail appear from the following description, of a presently preferred embodiment of my invention, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view, partly in transverse section, of a teething rail constructed in accordance with my present invention; and

Fig. 2 is an isolated transverse sectional view of the teething rail sheath as it appears before being applied to the cooperating rail part with which it is to be associated.

Corresponding reference numerals refer to corresponding parts in both figures of the drawing. In Figure 2 the dotted lines indicate the positions to which the several portions of the sheath are deflected, and from which they tend tare: cede, when theshea'th is appropriately applied to its associated and cooperating teething rail part. .In'Figure 1 reference numeral 3 indicates as a whole an upper fragment of a side or end wall or panel of a crib, play pen or comparable article of infants furniture. The depicted wall 3 corn}- prise's the horizontally disposed teething rail part 4, suitably of Wood, from which depend the con ventional palings 5 for reception by a lower rail (not shown). As thus far described, the structure is or may be quite conventional.

In achieving the objects of myinventiongI prefer that the upper portion of the rail art 4 sha'llbe substantially narrower than thelower part thereof and that the rail present upwardly facing longitudinally extending shoulders 6--5 occupying the horizontal plane at which the upper .and lowerportions of rail 4 merge. Extending longitudinally of the narrower upper portion of rail 4 is an upwardlyopening groove or channel 1. Such groove or channel 1 desirably has parallelside walls and is devoid of undercuts of any kind and is located midway between the sides of the rail 4.

At 8 isdepicted the teething rail sheath to which previously I have alluded. Such sheath is an elongated member, having the general crosssection of a lazy E with its back up, which suitably is formed, by an extruding operation, of a. moldable plastic that is tough, deformable, resilient, impervious to moisture, extremely smooth and free from surface pores, non-splinterable, and substantially non-breakable in teething rail service.

(Such sheath 8, which as indicated above should be formed in one piece of a suitable selected moldable plastic, comprises a top or back 9, outer arms l0l0 projecting from the edges of the top or back 9, and an intermediate arm ll. Arm ll desirably extends the length of the sheath and projects inwardly from the back 9 in the general direction of and midway between the sheath portions Ill-l0. The length of the intermediate arm II in cross section is less than the lengths of the outer arms H). The outer arms are nearly as long as the back 9.

At its free or inner edge the arm II desirably is provided with an enlargement or bead l2 which may be, and preferably is, generally triangular in cross-section.

The top 9 of the sheath desirably is concavoconvex in transverse cross-section; it being the concave surface of the top 9 is on the side thereof from which the arms l0 and II extend.

Before application of sheath 8 to rail part 4,

the arms lfl-l of the sheath definitely converge toward each others as they extend away from the sheath back or top 9. The free edges of the legs or arms lU-itl suitably are enlarged at 13-43 as decorative beads which, in the completed teething rail appear as fillets between the plane outer surfacesof the arms or legs l0l 0 and the adjabentbutioift plane sidefaces ofthe lower ortion of raiH'.

Sheath 8 readily and securely and satisfactorily is applied and attached to the rail part 4 by forcibly spreading apart the outer arms I0--'Nl' and causing relative lateral, as distinguished from longitudinal, movement" offslieath 8 and rail part 4 with the eneets"matnpperportion of the rail 4 is squeezed in the embrace of the sheath, the intermediate arm: l-l isemhraced by rail 4 with the bead l2 in frictional contact with the parallel walls of the groove or channellI and the beads l3l3 lie contiguous with their respective assbciated'rail houldersi6-6.-

' Tl'ie s'que'eze withwhich the 'shea'th 8 embraces r'all part 4' is" substantial and important and is continuously applied bec'auseofthe resiliency of the plastic material 'ofthe sheath and the-resulta'ntconstanttendencies-citric sheath back e an'd the sheath armsorlgs! 0 -I 0 to 're-assume those initia relative" positions" from" which they were deflected upon" the assembly; of the sheath 8"with the rail part 4;. Thegro'oveor channell'is sub stantially deeper'than the vertical dimension or cross-sectional length of' the" intermediate arm It} so that" this a'rmis allowed ample room in which to move Cl( itWI'IW'ardlyint-Grail 4' under' any severe temporary" dIOWi'i'WaTd pressure on the sheath back 91 Haviifgi thus" illustrated andde's'cribeda pres: ently' preferred embodiment of my invention, which of'course is susceptiblepf modification to meetindividual preferences; what -Iciaimas new andJdeSire" to secure by Letters Patent of the Unitedl'states is.

A teething irail' for children's furniture and the like comprising, in combination arail having a sectional shapecharacterized by a substantially flat top surface with a groove of substantially rectangularsectionandldeeper than its width-extending along the mid-portion thereof, rectangular corners, and opposed marginal recesses extending along the side surfaces at opposite sides of the top surface so as to provide longitudinally extending shoulders facing toward the top of the rail, a sheath of relatively hard and resilient plastic material fitted over the top of the rail and extendingitiiei'ealong t'o'cover'thje top and side surfaces o'fthe r'ail dowri to said'shoulders, said sheath having a top wall portion which is norn'ially bowed laterally thereof so that the exterior surface is convexly curved and the interior surface is concavely. curved, said sheath also having substantially fiat side wall portions integral with opposite sides of the top Wall portion and normally converging toward one another away from the topwal-lportiori, and said sheath further having an integral rib extending along the mid-portion'o'f the inner surface of the top wall portion and projecting between the side wall portions, said rib having a'wedge' shaped'tipthereon and extendingtherealong, said'r'ailand said sheath being so" related in size that when the sheath is mounted on the'railthe-side-"wall portions of the sheath abut said shoulders of the rail and assurne substantially parallel'positio'ns to gripthe opposite sides ofthetopof'the rail, said rib on the-sheath extending into the groove in therail and having "the wedge shaped'tip thereof firmly gripped therein to hold the sheath in place, and the top wall portion of the sheath remaining somewhat bowedwhen'the 'sheathis' in place on the-rail.

Gr. FELDMANQ Scientific Americans article on Interlocking; page-80, February1942; 20-74: 

